In her songs, Taylor Swift always seems to have the perfect sassy, finger-snapping comeback — and now you can too, courtesy of the new TayText custom keyboard for iOS. Yes, really!
We guess SwiftKey was already taken as a name.
Greg Pabst and his neurologist were trying to get a handle on his adult onset epilepsy when the doctor’s mention of the newly announced Apple Watch gave Pabst an ah-hah moment.
The doctor was discussing tools for Pabst to chart his seizures and send alerts to emergency contacts.
“Then he said, ‘It’s only a matter of time before somebody does that for the Apple Watch,’ ” Pabst, 38, recalled. “Then I thought maybe it should be me.”
Pabst, of Orlando, Fla., and a developer friend quickly went to work creating SeizAlarm, which appeared in the iTunes store for the iPhone last week and is available for the watch, the pre-orders for which begin arriving Friday.
Customer reviews on the App Store are good for business. It’s not just that good reviews can improve your app’s ranking. Reviews have also helped me build a better app.
But with all the fake reviews and haters out there, it’s sometimes hard to see the wood from the trees. The trick is to know exactly which reviews to pay attention to — and the secret is all in your stars.
Sometimes described as “Netflix for pirates,” the video streaming service Popcorn Time is coming to iPhone. The standalone Popcorn Time iOS app will launch imminently — quite possibly as early as today — and will allow users to watch pirated TV shows and movies on the move.
While it won’t be allowed in the App Store for obvious reasons, a workaround means users can install the app without having to jailbreak their handsets first — although, for now, you’ll need to have access to a Windows computer.
Instagram quietly enabled an option today that makes it super-easy to keep track of your favorite accounts.
You can now set up push notifications for whenever a specific account posts a new photo. The timing of the new feature makes perfect sense with the impending release of the Apple Watch.
Chris Toy was an Everquest geek in the early days, playing the addictive open-world video game somewhat obsessively.
It wasn’t slaying the monsters or leveling up that really motivated Toy, but the social aspects of the game.
“I was honestly pretty isolated,” the Hong Kong native told Cult of Mac by phone, “and talking to people via Everquest or World of Warcraft felt better than talking to real people.”
That’s when he realized that being able to text chat with other people wherever they were was the future of messaging, and perhaps even communication itself. Fast-forward to now, and Toy and a high-tech team living in San Francisco have created Bindle, a new group-messaging app designed to create this very same future.
I don’t watch cable TV. I pay a little more each month to purchase stand-alone Internet from my provider. I watch Netflix, Amazon, stream via my PS4, Apple TV and on my iOS devices. I hate commercial TV with a passion.
In 2013, 6.5 percent of American households quit watching cable or satellite TV, instead opting for a streaming-only experience, a 4.5 percent jump over the number of households that cut the cord in 2010. This is an audience that continues to grow.
Now Reuters TV, a fascinating new service from a reputable news outlet, promises to provide mobile TV news via an iOS app. Will other news empires follow suit?
Facebook has been trying to go after Foursquare’s slice of the geolocation pie for a while now, and a new update to Facebook’s iOS app doubles down on that policy, providing Foursquare-style recommendations for places to visit in your area, based upon the suggestion of friends.
Apple has really been upping its game with curated app collections, and today a slew of amazing productivity apps were put on sale as part of a new “Get Productive” roundup in the App Store.
It’s the most impressive collection of app deals we’ve ever seen in the store. Many of the included apps have been discounted by more than 50 percent.
Every once and a while, someone slips a cool emulator past Apple’s App Store guardians in the guise of a seemingly inoffensive app. Well, just in time for Christmas, it’s happened again! Meet Floppy Cloud, an app by developer Kyle Hankinson that is actually a Nintendo and Super Nintendo emulator in disguise.
Can you truly find yourself in a video game? Canadian filmmaker and professor Ramona Pringle thinks so. After her mother got sick and she broke up with her New York boyfriend, she spent a year playing World of Warcraft, a massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
During that time, she found many pearls of wisdom, which she’s condensed into 10 “avatar secrets,” which inform her app-based documentary film of the same name.
Video games are an unlikely place to find wisdom, yet, within them, we can find camaraderie, experience the sting of defeat, and help each other become our best selves. Rather than simple time-wasters, social video games like World of Warcraft and Second Life mirror the human condition.
While Pringle doesn’t log in to WoW much these days, the game had an undeniable impact. “This project very much changed my life, my career and my perspective,” she said during a telephone call with Cult of Mac.
This post is brought to you by IdeaSolutions, creator of AirBrowser.
Would you like to surf the web, watch streaming videos, read newspapers and do everything else you normally do on your Mac browser, in full screen on your TV? Pinch to zoom, swipe, bookmark pages — all using your iOS device as a remote control?
AirBrowser let’s you do all these things. You can get the full desktop browsing experience on your television, with all the sites you visit optimally scaled to fit your TV’s screen size. Read on and watch the AirBrowser video for more info on this easy-to-use app.
The next generation of stock trading is upon us thanks to Robinhood, a new iPhone app that came out this week.
Most brokerages charge between $7 and $10 for individual stock trades, but Robinhood eliminates fees entirely by cutting out the middleman. You’re in charge of your trading, and you don’t have to be well versed in the ways of Wall Street to use the app.
The interface is dead simple, and it makes the possibility of trading stocks a reality for more people than ever before. There’s a pretty huge waitlist right now, so you won’t be able to use it right away. But if you’re interested, claim your spot in line.
Available on: iPhone
Price: Free
Download: App Store
I just recently got into writing in Markdown, a special syntax that lets you easily convert to HTML for publishing on the web. There are several decent Markdown editors out there, but the best one I’ve used has to be Typed, a new app from Realmac Software.
The discreet word count view, keyboard shortcuts, and preview options are all great, but my favorite feature is Zen Mode. Typed goes fullscreen and plays six ambient, soothing music tracks in the background to help you focus. Don’t knock it till you try it.
Realmac is most well known for making Clear, a quality todo app for iOS that’s pretty popular. Typed serves a little more of a niche market, but for those interested in a minimalist, easy to use Markdown editor for the Mac, it’s an excellent choice.
Check out this video walkthrough for a more detailed rundown of the app’s main features.
Available on: Mac
Price: $19.99
Download: Realmac Software
Here at Cult of Mac, we’re big fans of GBA4iOS, an app by developer Ryan Testut that allows you to play Gameboy and Gameboy Advance titles on your iPhone or iPad. But pretty soon, it’s possible that GBA4iOS won’t be the only way to play emulated Gameboy games on your iOS device: Nintendo looks like it might be moving into the iOS emulation scene too.
Hyperlapse, the new time-lapse video app from Instagram, is taking the Web by storm. In today’s video, Cult of Mac goes hands-on with the free app to show you exactly how to use it to make incredible videos.
We also explain why Hyperlapse beats out iOS 8’s built-in time-lapse feature, and we’ll show you some of the best videos made with Instagram’s new app so far.
Subscribe to Cult of Mac TV on YouTube to catch all our latest videos.
A premium update to nutrition app Wholesome lets you do more than just see what’s in your food. The base app — with all its nutritional information — is still free, but for $2.99, you can unlock the “My Nutrition” and “Food Diary” features.
These give you tools to track your intake of hundreds of nutrients like vitamins, minerals and isoflavonoids. I had to look up what isoflavonoids are, but I definitely haven’t eaten any today (they’re in peas).
If you haven’t been using If This, Then That (IFTTT) on your iPhone or iPad, you really ought to be.
It’s a really amazing way to connect up all the things you do on your devices, putting them together in new ways for new uses.
Want to send all your iOS photos to OneNote or Evernote? There’s a recipe for that. How about making your Phillips Hue lightbulbs flash a specific color when you pull up into your driveway? There’s an IFTTT recipe for that, too.
Chances are, if you can think of it, you can make it happen, connecting different services and apps like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, your iOS Photos app, location services, and the like in fantastically useful new ways.
There’s a new update for the iOS app, and it’s got some pretty spectacular new stuff to check out.
From lakes to oceans, people everywhere can be found fishing. With busy workdays and full weekends, it can be hard to find the time to go out and cast your reel. The new app Ace Fishing: Wild Catch brings the thrill of fishing to all iPhones and iPads for free. Explore the world and catch over hundreds of different types of fish right away. Do you think you can catch even the most rare fish?
Take a look at the video and find out what you think.
This is a Cult of Mac video review of the multi-platform application Ace Fishing: Wild Catch – Com2uS USA, Inc., brought to you by Joshua Smith of TechBytes W/ Jsmith.
The gym is good for helping you lose weight, gain muscle and so much more. In the app Nerdy Workout players must help a nerd try to bulk up and improve from his trainee ranking. By tapping and holding the left and right sides of the screen, players can continuously help the nerd lift reps of dumbbells. As monsters fly by you must be careful and time your lifts to keep your arms from being bitten off. How many reps do you think you can do before it’s game-over?
Take a look at the video and find out what you think.
This is a Cult of Mac video review of the iOS application Nerdy Workout – Joseph Rothenberg, brought to you by Joshua Smith of TechBytes W/ Jsmith.
The hit bird slinging game Angry Birds has found its way on devices everywhere. While the Angry Birds series has brought developing company Rovio so much popularity, their branch company Rovio Stars aims to share the spotlight. The newest application from Rovio Stars is Word Monsters, a game that combines competitive head-to-head gameplay with word puzzles and monsters. Do you think you can beat all your friends and top the high score charts?
Take a look at the video and find out what you think.
This is a Cult of Mac video review of the iOS application Word Monsters – Rovio Stars Ltd., brought to you by Joshua Smith of TechBytes W/ Jsmith.
Seeing how far you can go has been a common theme in many games in the App Store. Since the release of hit apps like Temple Run and Subway Surfers, players everywhere have become fans of this “endless runner” genre. The app The Collider is an original endless runner that has players dodge obstacles for as long as possible while in a rocket. Do you think you can handle the increase in speed and climb the high-score charts?
Take a look at The Collider and find out what you think.
This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the iOS application The Collider, brought to you by Joshua Smith of TechBytes W/ Jsmith.
A curious download hit Apple’s App Store this week: a messaging app called FireChat.
It’s a new kind of app because it uses an iOS feature unavailable until version 7: the Multipeer Connectivity Framework. The app was developed by the crowdsourced connectivity provider Open Garden and this is their first iOS app.
The Multipeer Connectivity Framework enables users to flexibly use WiFi and Bluetooth peer-to-peer connections to chat and share photos even without an Internet connection. Big deal, right?
But here’s the really big deal — it can enable two users to chat not only without an Internet connection, but also when they are far beyond WiFi and Bluetooth range from each other — connected with a chain of peer-to-peer users between one user and a far-away Internet connection.
It’s called wireless mesh networking. And Apple has mainstreamed it in iOS 7. It’s going to change everything. Here’s why.
Puzzles have been stumping people for quite some time. From jigsaw puzzles to the Rubik’s cube, people everywhere have been trying to tackle their fun challenges. The app Unroll Me features lots of levels at different difficulties having players help guide a white ball to its goal. Can you slide every piece correctly and quickly enough to get a high-score?
Take a look at Unroll Me and find out what you think.
This is a Cult Of Mac video review of the multi-platform application Unroll Me brought to you by Joshua Smith of “TechBytes W/Jsmith.”
If you’re looking for a one-stop-shop to aggregate all your recent updates from various social networks, you may want to take a look at the newly-launched Recents iOS app.
Currently supporting Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr, the app features a clean interface optimized for viewing different types of content — whether that be an article from Facebook or Twitter, or a photo or video from Instagram or Tumblr.
